Scion tC

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audio system in the xA. One thing I kept doing during my xA test drive with the steering wheel audio controls was I kept hitting the volume control when I wanted to change the radio station and vice versa. I'd need to keep using those after buying the car until I got comfortable with it. I wasn't really paying attention to it during the drive-I was too busy blabbing to my son and the salesman about the driving dynamics of the xA-which were pretty fun, BTW. I would have a ball with that car.

I suppose so!! The biggest problem at hand is getting rid of the sportage. My moms 2002 sportage had 22k miles and when we got it appraised (in 2003) was worth only 5k. That was disappointing... One dealer wouldn't even accept it. Good luck to you with that! Is that xA on your carspace the one you bought/going to buy? Looks nice! But still I ♥ tC better.

that xA is somebody else's but I like the color of it so I used it on carspace.

Our 2001 Kia Sportage 4x4 is worth about $4,000 right now for our rural Arizona zip code, according to KBB.com. If the Scion dealer in Tucson I go to won't accept the Sportage 4x4 in trade I won't accept them as my dealer and I'll walk. Simple as that. I hold the cards in that deal!

Hey, autoboy. I looked for your e-mail address on carspace and it said "not available" or something like that. Do you need to go in and make it available to carspace members? Check it out, man.

Oh, about the tC. I love it, too. Absolutely love it. It's just that I want a 4-door rig to replace the 4-door rig I have now. But the tC is an awesome looking car. I test drove a 2005 Scion tC RS 1.0 and it drove really nicely. It was Absolutely Red and a 5-speed. I'd love to have that car, indeed. Maybe I'll get my wife a tC and myself an xA! Only she'll need the tC to be an automatic transmission. Drat!

I'm like her. I worked on my manual skills a few times on my moms old sportage. It was cool, confusing, and well... DIFFERENT!! The only way I'd get a manual will be auto stick. Toyota has some nice 5speed automanuals. They should drop on in the tc, xa, xb! The 5sp is good, but the 4 auto is a little dated -though not like GM's 4speed :P - and should be up graded. I guess once again i'm just nit-picking again :blush:?

A 5 speed automanuals should help auto owners have fun, keep revs down on the highway and get better MPG. If they do that, a rear wiper should be added then also...

I have been looking at which model to purchase and for me there are trade offs. The difference in the price is not the issue rather than the level of equipment. I really could care less about the sunroof and given the winter driving requirement 17" wheels and tires is not as desirable as 16" on the Spec.

I have reviewed both models in depth and thought that what I learned might be useful to others.

As everyone knows the TC spec has less content (or decontened) as it is called. The obvious things are the functioning sunroof, no cruise control, no radio controls on the steering wheel that on the spec is also no leather. The arm rest on the spec is not fabric covered nor has a dual opening lid.

The front grill on the spec is absent a small piece of chromium trim, the passenger door does not have a key to open it from the outside and naturally the tires are 16" mounted on steel wheels versus alloy's and 17".

Inside the engine compartment the plastic cover is absent on the spec with no other changes evident.

The $1,400 price difference roughly 8% less is not the issue versus getting features that have little value or utility but that is a subjective and personal choice. Perhaps others may find this useful.

After kicking it around I ordered the spec and have already arranged for leather interior to be installed ($1,400). In addition I have ordered cruise to be added ($180) a lip spoiler and will wait till the spring to decide on wheels.

Your comment suggests that the aftermarket leather seat covers is a poor decision or I assume you imply a less than quality job, far from it. The leather includes the seats, doors etc and done by a company that also does it for BMW's etc. As I noted I could care less about the sunroof and the other items are frankly trivial issues. I have already ordered the wheels which I intend on keeping 17"'s a smarter choice for all around driving. The cruise control addition is pocket change and I will wait to see if the stock radio is a keeper or not. Oh by the way the leather instaler also is fabricating a new sunscreen, to replace the stock POS.

The above makes sense for me and I am not suggesting the right call for others.

From what I read many people swap out their tires immediately anyways and bluntly 18" wheels and tires on the TC is for many (not all) a marginal choice.

the most amazing thing happened yesterday! My dad was saying how the tC is as pitiful as the mitsubishi galant and how they drive poorly and stuff. His friend came by yesterday in his daughters tC and took him to his friends house and all my dad could say when he got home was how great a car it really is -minus the dash- and how neat the 2 sunroofs are and how cool the turn signals in the mirror are, ect. Then he went on and on about the power and how well the ac works and so on. I think he likes it...

Most likely, he is going to check one out today (as well as the maxima which he adores) and never hush about it. The sunroof, hatch, radio cover and rear room seem to be is favorite points. He thinks it starts almost $26k. BOY IS HE MISTAKEN!! :P

i just recently bought a tC and its the best! i love everything about it and its the hot natical blue! im just feeling out the car and i noticed a av jack in the arm rest. i was just wondering if i could hook up my mp3 player to this jack...like go buy a cord for it...or is it just for say a dvd or something? just wondering..... and does any 1 know where i could get cheap floor mats? anyways...anyone thinking baout getting one its def a good buy! i love it and love driving it!

Yes your local toyota dealer. They sell for a LOW price of ONLY about $200. :P Or if you need some that last and are cheap, try discount auto parts or whatever they are calling it now. Is it Advance auto parts or something? :confuse: They sell for the high price of only $19.50 around here. May have changed.

My son had purchased a Scion TC 2006 - he got anxious and bought 4 new tires and rims - Venti V56 black dual 5 spoke with chrome lip - lug pattern 5x100 (5x4 1/2). Had on 3 days - we took them off since he had to sell the car - couldn't afford the rims... Would like to sell them to a good home. I have photos if needed -

Not sure where you are located, but my son just had his TC for a month and had to sell it... he had jumped the gun and ordered tires and rims he cannot afford - he had them on the car 3 days and we had them taken off but cannot return them - they were Venti V56 rims and tires, black dual 5 spoke with chrome lip lug pattern 5 x 100. We are trying to sell them. Let me know if anyone is interested. Thanks

Heres hoping for a 5 speed auto, a couple lbs fewer, and rear wiper. I had some seat time in the tC and got to start it but not much else (Maronee Used Car Sell-off. tC was blocked in). The sound stem is ok, I don't notice any blind spots, luv the steering wheel audio, and the steering wheel should telescope.

Why is it that scion tc- problems and solutions section is read only now? Does edmunds not want people to know what's wrong with the scion tc? what's up with that? talk about censoring? or just hiding the truth?

Not at all -- the Problems & Solutions discussion is readable and, if you're having a problem with your tC, please feel free to start a topic by clicking the "Add a Discussion" link at the top of the Scion tC Group.

MODERATOR

Need help getting around? claires@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.

Hi all,OK, here is the problem: About 1 month ago I traded in my stock tires (which I surprisingly got 35k miles out of) for a pair of Toyo Proxes4. Nice tires, good handling if a little loud. Whatever. The problem is this: I notice a dragging noise at low speeds, like either the brakes are dragging or the rim is rubbing against something. Also, and this is most vexing, my gas mileage has dropped nearly 10% since this problem first appeared. I have already done the following: 1) brought to Scion dealer to check if brake pad wear indicators were rubbing. They weren't - brakes are only 30% worn. 2) Checked tires themselves to see if there are any rub or wear spots. There are none.

So from what I can figure, its probably the e-brake is not fully releasing from the rotors. That would account for the noise AND the resultant drop in gas mileage since simple rubbing would not account for the drop in mileage (note, I retained the stock tire size and did not replace the rims).

So, can someone technically inclined check my logic and suggest something I may have missed? I'm pretty astute about my car and when I brought it to the dealer, they missed whatever the problem was the first time around.

tc guy..here's an idea.. jack up the car, and just spin the tires, listening for where the noise is coming from. That way you wouldn't have to blame the tires, since they wouldn't be in contact with the ground to make noise.

I do remember on another forum, people making comments about noise. Their dealer found a bad wheel bearing causing a droning noise. If a wheel bearing was bad, it would cause drag and cause a loss of fuel economy!

Jacking it up would be the best bet, or the dealer could lift it up and spin the wheels, listening. Wheel bearings and e-brake shoes dragging have a different sound, but the same area.

Update: Dealer's tech took the Scion out for a ride with me. He heard the noise and theorized that it was rust on the rear of the brake rotor. He also said that the ethanol that they add to the fuel this time of year (coupled with the warm temps we're having here in Massachusetts), caused the drop in mileage. So they scrubbed the rust (but I can still hear the sound) and I am a bit dubious about the mileage thing. They didn't charge me for any of this, which is the one cool thing. So question to the board: Has anyone noticed their mileage suffer recently, especially those in colder climes?

I still hold to the idea of getting the car in the air and spinning the tires. I bet the noise could very well be coming from a wheel bearing.

The mileage drop? Yes I have seen it in all the cars I've ever had. Some cars are worse than others in winter. But ethanol is added because of pollution and it makes the gas burn cleaner. It is usually added because of this, not winter gas. So that's not necessarily true. Okay the mileage drop? In winter gas has oxygenates added to the fuel to make it be able to start in the winter. Problem with oxygenates is that it leaves less gas to be burned, hence the lower mileage. Because you'd burn more fuel instead. And all the cold temperature idling to warm the engine up, also wastes gas. Your warmer weather would actually give you more mileage since you wouldn't be in the "Cold temp" mode of idling and wasting gas, the engine would've been warm already. I think you should try gas from a different brand or different gas station. Try that first and then see. It might give you an improvement. I've seen good results here with BP gas. Maybe if you have BP you could try that.

About the rust usually just normal driving/braking will remove the surface rust off the discs, don't need to have to manually remove it. So keep us posted about the noise.. and the mileage.

Thanks Mark. Since the problem is isolated to the driver side front I think I will jack it up this weekend and spin to see where the problem comes from. Though I did float the idea of a wheel bearing to the tech and he dismissed it saying that the noise would get louder at higher speeds (it doesn't) and the wheel would pull in that direction, which it also doesn't.

As far as gas, come to think about it I have been filling up at "cheaper" stations. Maybe I'll standardize on Exxon/Mobil for a few fillups and see what that gets me. Thanks again for your responses.

Okay, I hope I can explain this correctly. I bought a Tc a couple of days ago. Used my rear window defroster. Now I can see spots on the window. Looks like heat sensors, round geometrically lined up spots all over the back window. It is really frustrating me, because it looks like crap. I was so totally into this car, but now I am concerned. Anyone know what this might be? What to do?

nothing wrong with your rear window defroster or the rear window. It's the way that the rear glass is tinted with UV protection. It's the angle in which you look at the glass you can see the circles in the rear glass. Usually you see it from the outside looking in. All tC's have this, as well as other cars too. sorry to say, but it's normal. If you want, go to a scion dealer and see all the rest of the tc's, they all have this.